


Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

by Arcylic



Series: Dear Fellow Traveller [2]
Category: Metal Fight Beyblade | Beyblade Metal Saga
Genre: Beginning of Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27117466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcylic/pseuds/Arcylic
Summary: As far as Kenta could tell Ryuuga kept his guard up all day everyday. But even the strongest guard would slip occasionally and not even Ryuuga could control his own dreams. Neither could Kenta, but he could at least try to help.
Relationships: Ryuuga & Yumiya Kenta
Series: Dear Fellow Traveller [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972744
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

These were lots of things about living in the wilderness that had taken Kenta off guard. The constant movement, how difficult it was to find food and how vast the stretches of land where there wasn't even a whisper of people were.

Sleeping.

He hadn't expected five star hotels but everyday he found himself cursing his lack of foresight for not bringing a sleeping bag with. He'd thought that Ryuuga would at least care enough about his spine to have at least a sleeping bag or something. But he didn't and sleeping on the ground didn't seem to bother him.

It was always the same- he'd lie down, let out a monumental sigh like he'd set down some incredible weight and then he'd be out in under a minute and sleeping like a log until sunrise, at which point he'd get up like he had light sensors.

It was honestly kind of impressive.

It took Kenta considerably longer to pass out and he mostly passed the time by feeding collection of dry sticks to the fire. He's hold them close until they caught and shove them in at the last second before they burned his fingers.

Tonight, an hour after Ryuuga had fallen asleep and some fifteen sticks later, that pattern was broken when Kenta heard the other move slightly. He didn't give it much thought- people shifted in their sleep, there was a breeze that passed through Ryuuga's coat and produced the sound, it could've been anything.

A few minutes later he heard Ryuuga's breathing take on a quicker tempo but it still hadn't worried him. People breathe at different speeds. Maybe it was a result of the partial jog they’d had to pull off to get to proper cover today. Maybe he was dreaming about a bey battle. It could’ve been anything.

Then there was a weird sort of sound like a cut off gasp coming from the other but Kenta figures he'd just gotten poked in his sleep by a stray pebble or something. It could've been anything.

Including, apparently, a nightmare.

It became obvious when the shifting started happening every few seconds it finally and Ryuuga’s breaths started coming not just quicker but louder too and it occurred to Kenta that this might be more than just a stray pebble or a cold breeze.

The realization left him frozen and uncertain.

This was Ryuuga. Ryuuga who could laugh in the face of an eruption with the absolute confidence that he was guaranteed to come out unscathed. Ryuuga who could beat three legendary blayders one after another with the same level of effort others kicked misbehaving cats. Ryuuga who'd tamed L-Drago all by himself even with the corruption of centuries still swimming around in his head.

Kenta had the sudden sinking feeling he knew what Ryuuga's nightmare was about. Even if he'd managed to get control of it that probably didn't mean that all that negative energy had vanished into thin air. The control necessary to keep it all under control must've been monumental. And control, no matter how good, slipped.

But it still didn’t give him any idea as what to do.

Should he ignore it? He knew how much Ryuuga despised weakness, despised loss of control. He probably wouldn’t want Kenta, wouldn’t want _anyone_ , seeing him like this. The polite thing to do seemed to be to pretend he hadn’t and leave the other to ride the nightmare out on his own. But he didn’t think he could sleep now that he was aware what was happening. He felt hyperaware, each hitched breath, each shift of fabric startling like a gunshot leaving him tense almost to the point of trembling.

Should… should he try to wake the other up? But he knew that every moment of rest was precious here in the wilderness. This didn’t seem restful in any way through. Would Ryuuga lash out on instinct if he was woken up? Normally Kenta knew that Ryuuga’s self control was much too good for him to lash out without a good reason but he clearly wasn’t in control right now, shoulders tense and fingers twitching and a deep crease between his brows, right under his crown. Waking Ryuuga up would be impolite, potentially dangerous and probably very awkward. But whatever this was it looked painful.

He made up his mind.

“Ryuuga,” he whispered, but there was no reaction “Ryuuga!” he tried again, a little more loudly. No response. A louder sound was probably necessary to wake him up but Kenta was somewhat worried about attracting some wild animal by yelling.

He pushed himself up, ignoring the twinge in his joints and slowly, cautiously, moved over next to Ryuuga. He hesitated for a second before deciding to go over to his legs- Kenta, for one, wouldn’t want to wake up from a nightmare to a shadowy form leaning over his face. Gingerly he poked him in the leg before quickly leaning away. Ryuuga’s leg twitched but the other didn’t show any real signs of waking up. A few more unsuccessful pokings and a particularly teeth rattling cut off gasp later Kenta decided that if he got burned to a crisp by a half-awake Ryuuga that was just how he went and grabbed the other’s calf before shaking it vigorously.

Ryuuga flew awake with a sharp inhale, tense all over, fingers dug into the ground and lips pressed so tightly together they were almost colorless. He didn’t actually get up but Kenta could tell he was awake from the deliberate way he moved. For a few beats neither of them moved. Then Ryuuga slowly pushed himself up to sit cross legged on the ground, eyes closed and elbows on his knees.

Kenta quietly got up as well and walked back to his own side of the campfire, sitting back down and, after a few moments, continuing to feed small twigs from the pile he’d gathered to the fire. He looked up from the fire only when he saw Ryuuga move again. Move to do something Kenta never really thought he’d see.

He took off the crown.

Carefully, detangling the slimmer parts from a few hairs that had twisted around it at his temples and then working it off slowly, the way Kenta had sometimes seen his mother do with a particularly stubborn ring. Underneath the metal had left impressions in the skin of his forehead that the other started rubbing at with his fingers.

It was probably rude to stare, but Kenta had a feeling that he was witnessing something important and he had a feeling that this- gesture, the fact that he was allowed see this was a quiet but significant sort of trust. So he watched as Ryuuga carefully worked the lines from his temples and forehead and when they were more or less smoothed over Kenta found the words rushing out of his mouth almost without meaning to.

“You were having a nightmare,” he said, half question and half statement.

There were a few beats of silence before Ryuuga opened his eyes and Kenta was suddenly torn between his hindbrain screaming at him to get away run away get out _right now_ and the deep calm that had settled around the both of them. He didn’t know if it was an illusion created by the fire being reflected by the other’s eyes or something else but Ryuuga’s eyes seemed a kaleidoscope of red and oranges and yellows.

“Yes,” he answered.

It was a single word but somehow Kenta knew that it encompassed all that the other wanted and meant to say. It was a single word and it was answer and confession and thank you all in one.

**Author's Note:**

> To let sleeping dogs lie: to ignore a problem because trying to deal with it could create an even more difficult situation


End file.
